SOUND ARTIST MENTORSHIP I

The Artist-Mentor program allows a close and focused relationship to form between a core group of students and their two mentors. Two full weeks each semester is dedicated to intensive engagement with an invited Mentor Artist. This unique time allows for a robust and focused relationship to form between the MFA Candidates and the Mentor, and typically includes a variety of off-campus real-world artistic activities. The content of the week will vary according to the mentors’ expertise and the needs of the cohort, and may include studio visits, gallery and museum visits, meetings with art world professionals, assigned readings, workshops, individual and group critiques, and more. The content of the workshop will vary according to the Mentors’ area of interest, expertise, and the needs of the students.

What does it mean to be an artist and what are the possible meaningful and impactful forms of sound art practice in the 21st century? What are the overlaps with other disciplines, and how do we negotiate these borders that might be more important in some contexts than others? During Mentor Week we will individually and collectively examine our assumptions and notions of sound art. Our week will include studio visits, hands-on observation of sound art projects, trips to museums to observe the public engage art within them. We will have more relaxed time to contemplate ideas, consider new concepts,  and engage in nuanced discussions on shows, films, readings, and conversations with guests. Without classes to attend, the sense of time  is slowed down and new ways of thinking, feeling and being in the world can be born.  

Mentor Week is a special moment in your MFA experience. We meet in a highly compressed time frame, yet the lens of our group will be focused on the question of how individual experiences take shape and form. Soundworks have many ways of impacting and influencing  us. Studio visits, group critiques, and field trips may  be accompanied by relevant readings reflecting on the conditions for art making in the past and at present.